How do sellers protect themselves from dishonest buyers?

[jewelz38]

I was informed by someone that has sold items on Ebay, that a buyer can go back to Ebay after they have purchased your item and file a complaint that the item is damaged or  no good, when in  fact  there is nothing wrong with it. And Ebay will  in turn refund their money and take it back from your credit card. So my question is this, how, as a seller, do you protect yourself against these false charges? The person that told me this even took pictures with dates on them of the item but the seller claimed it was damaged and Ebay gave seller back money and then took money back off her (buyer's credit card)..So she was out the money and her item.. I have never sold anything on Ebay, I want to but now I'm a little nervous to try..

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

That's only half the story.

Maybe even less.

Before the buyer can get a refund, he must return the disputed item to the seller. If he is wise, he will use Confirmation of Delivery, because some sketchey sellers will not admit to receiving the item if the buyer cannot show delivery.

This means that the buyer may be paying more to return the item than the seller did to ship. Or even more that the entire original payment.

Scamming buyers will not return items.

Unhappy (but wrong) buyers will. And may become nasty in feedback.

Your informant left out part of the tale. Was the item a counterfeit? Was the damage because of poor packaging? Did the seller agree to refund based on a photo (quite a normal way when both parties are being grownups about the problem)? Was the seller's account on shakey ground for some other reason and was he afraid of one more bad feedback?

How to protect yourself?

Describe carefully.

Photograph clearly. I use scans because my books, stamps, postcards, and dress patterns show better in a scan than in a photo.

Have friendly Terms of Sale. Accept refunds and welcome questions.

State your shipping cost, don't surprise your buyer.

If possible, use Free Shipping. Be aware that Free Shipping really means your shipping is included in the askingprice.

  -Which is cheapest?

   A $5 item with $10 shipping

   A $10 item with $5 shipping

  A $15 item with Free Shipping.

If a customer can't figure out that they are all the same price, well, a dumb person is always the most difficult to deal with...

Pack carefully. Most damage is caused before the package reaches the post office.

On high value items (and you decide what is high value) use Delivery Confirmed or Tracked shipping. Do not allow the buyer to bully you into shipping by a cheaper, slower or untracked method. Politely tell him that the price is what it is and that perhaps he should buy something he can afford.  (Which is hard to do politely, admittedly)

Start with cheap items you find around the house.

Check out Seller Preferences and put an automatic Block on some of the worst buyers.

If you are using auctions, and most newbies do, check the bidders' feedback left for incriminating clues. A lot of bid retractions for example. Or notes thanking sellers for their help/cooperation/refund.